Pages tagged "Blog"

REC’s Move Our Money campaign is starting up again on campuses around the nation including Loyola Chicago, Warren Wilson College, Guilford College, and Wash U, while work around coal is continuing at UNC Chapel Hill, Earlham, and University of Illinois -- Urbana Champaign.

At Fairfield University the Proactive Investment Club is awaiting approval to become an official student group. Meanwhile, representatives of the club are meeting with the editor of the school newspaper as well as the student senate to coordinate a massive awareness campaign and produce a student government resolution in favor of responsible investment efforts by several important metrics including community investment, increased transparency, and the establishment of a committee on investment responsibility which could be presented to the Board of Trustees at their March meeting.

Harvard University students are organizing a broad responsible investment campaign and want to get alumni involved! Visit join.responsibleharvard.com to learn more and get involved.

At the University of Pittsburgh, students are still awaiting a response on their community investment proposal delivered in Novemeber. As relations are tensing between students and the administration, Pitt students are seeking the support of the community they are trying to improve. Currently, students are undertaking the tasks of getting their proposal endorsed by the student government board, community task forces, district councilman and the mayor of Pittsburgh to truly represent the shared desire for community investment.

Middlebury College’s student investment club is participating with a group of investors in a conversation with Exxon Mobil about tar sands.

Happy New Year from San Francisco! At the University of San Francisco, students have come together to organize around the Jesuit Values of the 21st Century. Together these students are working on a number of issues, but at the forefront is the campaign to move cash assets into a community credit union. The University Ministry has offered the students a monthly editorial section in their regular newspaper that will reach out to the Jesuit and administrative community for support of these endeavors. Equally exciting is the future meeting with USF's CFO who has yet to schedule a meeting with the students. This semester the students at USF are planning on engaging with more community organizations, alumni, administrators and the current student body to further the support of the community investment campaign.

At Swarthmore College, student group Mountain Justice is escalating its campaign for divestment from the fossil fuel industry. Members of the group met with administrators at the end of fall semester, and were informed that the Board of Managers does not intend to divest in the near future, or ever. Undaunted, students are doubling down on their organizing efforts. Swarthmore's investments are killing people and destroying our future, and Mountain Justice plans to take this message to an overwhelming number of students, faculty and alumni.

Responsible investment campaigns are moving forward at UC Berkeley, University of Washington, the University of Chicago, Univeristy of Arizona, and many more schools.

Don't see your school here? Let us know so we can include your updates next time.

Twice in recent months, I’ve gotten into heated discussions with nonprofit leaders about the spending rate from their endowments.

As you may know, the spending rate is the formula that determines how much an organization pulls from its endowment each year. The federal government requires that private foundations distribute an amount equal to at least 5% of the end-of-year principal. Public charities (that’s everyone from the University of California to the local Boys and Girls Club) have more flexibility. Most adopt a spending rate that is a fixed percentage of a 12- or 20-quarter “trailing average.” That is, they look at the ups and downs of their endowment over the last three to five years, and take out, for example, 5% of the average value of the endowment during that period. The theory – a generally solid one – is that this keeps the pay-out rate fairly steady. The rate doesn’t drop precipitously simply because of one bad fourth quarter. Nor does the pay-out rate veer suddenly higher because of one strong fourth quarter. Purchasing power would be preserved for the long haul. And over time – at least until a few years ago – the yield at most institutions has been fairly consistent and predictable, and it has trended up (with the markets) as the years went by.

But these are not ordinary times. Those trailing averages in many cases are still digesting the huge market drop in 2008, and this, in addition to the flat year in the market in 2011, means that the payouts at many nonprofits in 2012 are going to be lower than last year. Meanwhile, funding sources for nonprofits are drying up. Government support is down across the board. Foundation support (largely for the same investment and spending rate reasons) is weak. Competition for donors and funders is fierce. So nonprofits need more income from somewhere if they are to provide their services – demand for which, not coincidentally, is rising.

What strikes me as counter-intuitive is the refusal of nonprofit boards to adjust the spending rate formula to create more income from their endowments. Just the reverse, in fact, is happening: there’s a trend to lower the spending rates still more. I heard one Investment Committee member say, “Our investment advisors tell us that even if we lower our spending rate, we’re spendthrift by the standards of the big universities!”

My reaction:

First, how a well-endowed university manages its endowment is irrelevant to how a small nonprofit manages its endowment. It’s not even a case of comparing apples and oranges. It’s apples and lamb chops. On one hand you have a huge institution with billions in endowment and property, a world-wide reputation, a vibrant and affluent alumni pool, and thousands of students and parents willing to spend significant amounts on tuition and fees. On the other hand, you have, say, a human service organization with a budget of $500,000, an impoverished clientele, and an endowment of $1 million. What works for Yale does not have any real relevance to the small nonprofit.

Second, the major universities have not exactly covered themselves with glory in their endowment management. The Center for Social Philanthropy at the Tellus Institute and Joshua Humphreys (lead author) did a remarkable study in 2010 about the investment policies of six major universities. It’s an exhaustive examination that describes many characteristics to avoid: hubris, conflict of interest, lack of transparency, illiquid assets, and significant negative impact on the institutions (in reduced services and halted initiatives) and on the community (higher unemployment and reduced economic activity, along with others).

Third, we need to stop treating the endowment and the established spending rate as sacred. A terrific article, “Endowment for a Rainy Day,” by Burton A. Weisbrod & Evelyn D. Asch in the Stanford Social Innovations Review advocates that we should increase the spending rate from endowments in difficult economic times. Weisbrod and Asch essentially ask if the endowment is there to serve the institution, or if the institution is there to serve the endowment. Unfortunately, the latter is often the case. The prevailing notion is that the most important thing is to build up the value of the endowment so that it can then provide an income flow in the future. Weisbrod and Asch say: not if that means gutting the programming today.

Let’s look around. We have people who need to be housed and fed and treated for illness – now. We have kids who need to be educated, environmental challenges that need to be addressed, and illnesses that need to be cured. Aren’t we better off spending money today to cure the ill, feed and clothe and educate children, slow down global warming, stave off environmental disaster, and cure illnesses like AIDS? If we hoard the money (traditionalists would say, “preserve the purchasing power”) until, say, 2042 – won’t it be too late to do much about these immediate needs? Won’t we have perpetuated some problems while allowing others to spiral out of control – while unnecessarily permitting human suffering?

I’m not advocating raiding endowments or “spending them down.” But spending only 4% of a trailing average, as is the standard at many institutions, is too low. This is the rainy day. Pay out 6%. (Most states allow you to draw up to 7% without violating the rules governing endowment management.) This is what we have endowments for. Spending rates are arbitrary and can be changed. Human suffering cannot be ignored in the name of building up the principal of an endowment.

The holiday season is a great time to gather around with family and friends and take a break from the grind of school and work. However, this year, I found myself starting dinner conversations around my work with REC. Only two people felt inclined to participate in the dialogue, but the topic ended up dominating the dinner conversation, pulling people in between bites of holiday treats. Seated between investors from Blackstone and UBS, I asked if they’ve noticed an increase in demand for socially responsible investments. I was curious to learn if SRI was the new big thing in their investment firms. The answer to my question wasn’t exactly what I was looking for, but it was definitely important. I was simply told that investors recognize SRI when the client demands it.

With that, the importance of REC’s work became ever clear. When I was granted the opportunity to work for REC, I was given a toolkit of knowledge and resources to mobilize students to demand that our universities’ investments be made based on social, economic and environmental factors. As students, we are clients of institutions that have endowments worth millions and billions of dollars. We need to show our investment offices the positive impacts that the endowment can have for our universities, communities and world when invested responsibly.

As socially conscious citizens, we have the responsibility to demand SRI; as students, we have the opportunity to demand SRI from a big wallet. There’s a good chance that many of us will never have enough money to invest with a company like Blackstone, but right now, as students, we are powerful millionaires. So to kick off the new year, lets show our universities how to really uphold the values in their mission statements and “go greener” and give back more than ever before. Lets use our power as students, as clients, and demand socially responsible investment for a bright, new year.

O-M group recently announced a new human right's policy after dialogue with Jesuits from around the country, including Loyola University of Chicago. Special thanks to Fr. Kafarhire who is a member of the Shareholder Advocacy Committee at Loyola.

(Dec-20) The Jesuit Conference of the United States said it was encouraged by today’s announcement that OM Group (NYSE: OMG) approved a corporate human rights policy on November 15. Jesuits have been engaged with the company since October 2007 on issues related to safety concerns of artisanal (hand) miners around the company’s cobalt smelter in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). Jesuits and other religious investors asserted the need for a comprehensive human rights policy and operational guidance to identify, prevent, mitigate and account for adverse human rights impacts.

“We appreciate the commitment OM Group has put forth in recognizing the risks that their cobalt operations pose in the DRC,” said John Sealey, provincial assistant for international ministries and socially responsible investing representative for the Chicago-Detroit Province. “And in turn, the adoption of a human rights policy reflects their commitment to mitigate safety concerns for the people of the DRC and protect shareholder value.”

“We believe that this is a good beginning but there is much work to be done to make this human rights policy comprehensive,” said John Kleiderer, policy director for the Jesuit Conference of the United States. “We look forward to the opportunity to work closely with OM Group on its implementation and to have an ongoing dialogue around their human rights performance.”

Sealey noted, “OM Group is a good corporate citizen in the DRC with the smelter operating according to high technical and safety standards. Additionally, the company provides good wages and regularly contributes to local charities. However, global expectations of businesses to respect human rights also confer a responsibility on the company to have its joint venture partners remediate human rights risks like the unsafe conditions around the Lubumbashi smelter where artisanal miners are routinely injured.”

A significant source of OM Group’s cobalt is from the DRC. Jesuit representatives from the United States and Europe visited Lubumbashi multiple times and were concerned to learn of the safety hazards posed by the company’s adjacent property belonging to the OM Group’s joint venture partner. In 2007, three children were killed when a large mound of material collapsed on them.

The Chicago-Detroit Province of the Society of Jesus was the lead filer of a 2011 shareholder proposal petitioning the company to create a human rights policy that conforms to standards set forth by the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. The proposal received 43% support of the shares voted at the OM Group annual meeting held May 10, 2011. Endorsed by the United Nations Human Rights Council this summer after six years of development, the Guiding Principles now set the authoritative framework to respect human rights for all business enterprises, both transnational and others, regardless of their size, sector, location and operational context, ownership and structure.

The Jesuit-led shareholder proposal was co-filed by nine other Jesuit provinces in the United States and Canada, Loyola University Chicago, Regis High School (New York), Creighton Prep, Catholic Health East, Mercy Investment Services, Inc. and the Ursuline Sisters of Tildonk. Additionally, this engagement received assistance from the Jesuit-run Center for Social Action (CEPAS) in Kinshasa and the Jesuit European Office (OCIPE).

Anna Bradley, Jesuit Conference consultant on socially responsible investing, noted “the shareholder coalition particularly benefited from the participation of Jesuit Father Murhula Kafarhire of the Central Africa Province and a citizen of the DRC. At the 2009 annual shareholders meeting, Fr. Kafarhire stated shareholders’ concerns maintaining that mitigation of human rights risks will benefit all stakeholders and serve to create a competitive advantage for the company.”

OM Group, headquartered in Cleveland, Ohio, is the world’s leading producer of cobalt-based specialty chemicals. Cobalt is a small but essential component of many electronic devices. In August, the company completed its acquisition of Vacuumschmelze GmbH & Co. KG of Hanau, Germany. The combined companies will have approximately 6400 employees and operate manufacturing facilities in the Americas, Europe, Asia and Africa.

In addition to the work with OM Group, the Jesuits were the lead shareholder proponents in the engagements that led to corporate human rights policies by Chevron, Occidental Petroleum and Monsanto.

I am a senior at the University of San Francisco, but the greater part of my youth was spent in small town, rural-esque, quaint community on an island off of Seattle, Vashon Island. When my family first moved to Vashon, the small business community was flourishing; local grocers, restaurants, realty offices, a movie theater, etc. Everything was home grown – including one of my favorite cafés Fred’s Home Grown. Fred’s is now boarded up, like most of Vashon’s retail space is available for rent because of its inability to maintain business in our current economy. Not only did Fred’s close, my mother’s interior design business and art gallery, which served as a space for community was forced to close too. The importance and value of local businesses are vital to defining and creating a sense of community. Outside of the old hardware store, now a restaurant, hangs a sign “Today’s special, so is tomorrow”. Can tomorrow be special without independent and local businesses?

Recently it appears that the American public has recognized the correlation of the demise of such endearing small businesses with the prevalence of corporate banking institutions. When a 27-year-old Los Angeles resident made a Facebook event inviting her friends to move their money into credit unions and other responsible financial institutions, she had no idea that her action would go viral. Together, according to estimates, one million Americans have participated in the bank transfer movement. These citizens moved their money, stating that they would no longer support too-big-to-fail banks but rather invest in institutions, which prioritize community over profit.

Bank transfer day was just one day in a movement towards keeping tomorrow special, to create a better financial future for Americans. I was among many college students who were inspired to participate in bank transfer day by moving their money into credit unions. We choose to support credit unions, and community development financial institutions because they function differently from corporate banks. The customer of a credit union is a member who acts like share holder and plays a role in the bank’s decision making. Credit unions often offer higher rates for deposits, lower costs for loans and reduced fees. But most importantly, credit unions work for these small businesses and community organizations offering manageable business loans and fair and maintainable mortgage rates.

This past summer I started working for the Responsible Endowments Coalition (REC) because I want to think globally, and act locally. At REC, we work to foster social and environmental change by making responsible investment a common practice amongst colleges and universities. I have realized that the bank transfer movement is not just about the action that people need to take individually by independently investing their money in responsible financial institutions. For it to be truly successful institutions must participate alongside citizens.

Often, I lookat my bank account balance and it is pretty dismal. I know as a college student there’s not much money in my personal checking account. But when I imagine how much money a university possibly has in the bank, it seems infinitely. We are looking at millions, if not billions of dollars. The University of San Francisco alone has $213 million in its endowment. These institutions need to start taking their banking decisions seriously. There is no time like the present to build off of the success of Bank Transfer Day. Let’s demand that the institutions, which we are affiliated with, invest in responsible financial institutions.

Most universities have a candy coated, sweet pitch for prospective students and their parents. My university and many other Jesuit institutions uphold a great standard in their commitment to fighting for social justice. Is investing in corporate banks, which foreclose on families who they purposefully target with sub-prime mortgage loans, socially just? I don’t think an institution claiming faith in social justice can maintain their reputation while supporting these current corporate financial institutions. It is imperative that we ask our universities and institutions to act responsibly, to have the maximum possible impact possible. And the time is now.

Since National Bank Transfer day, Florida A & M University has been coming more aware of economic injustices, and responsible investment through leadership development workshops. The key component to teamwork is leadership. Before leadership can be implemented, leaders need to be empowered. The focus on the campus is on hosting seminars that offer leadership and development workshops.

Students attend college because they want to become equipped to have a productive life with the knowledge and skills that will be necessary for them to become successful. The approach of training students through former leadership education programs will allow them to become more interested in not just helping on the campaign, but playing an active role in its leadership, while having the credentials to add to their resume for professional development.

Also, during the evening of November 29, 2011, we organized a Rethink Black Money seminar that educated students on the benefits of keeping our dollars within our communities. I had the opportunity to organize and engage students on the importance of responsible investing and expose the buying power we have through our Foundation that has approximately $98 millions in assets and how we could take advantage of the shareholders advocacy through proxy votes as a method to change corporate governance.

Although, many students are grieving from the loss of one of our FAMU Marching 100 Band’s Drum Majors, the band was not the only tradition relevant to Florida A & M University. The tradition that brought me an attendance was the solidarity of students in taking social action on issues that includes voter registration, rallies on the injustices of the Martin Lee Anderson vs. the State of Florida, marches to the polls doing historic elections, and Occupy Tallahassee protests. Florida A & M has a history of students getting involved that stretches back to the 50’s and 60’s doing times of social unrest and change in the nation.

December 1st is World AIDS Day and it has been since 1995. However, I had no clue that such a holiday existed until I started my undergraduate career at Hampton University. Suddenly, the entire Student Center was bleeding with scarlet streamers and crimson balloons. Ribbons from fabric stores within a 5 mile radius had been raided for lapel decorations. The event hosts, with duct-taped mouths, lay non-responsive on the linoleum to illustrate the idea that silence kills. Even the broke college audience came out of their pockets with actual bills instead of the usual copper change and lint. But what does the AIDS movement have that Responsible Investment doesn’t (I mean, besides the signature red ribbon and federally mandated holiday). Why are people so compelled to rally around this issue?

Before I begin my own analysis let me first say that HIV/AIDS is a serious world-wide issue and should not be taken lightly. I am in no way attempting to undermine the urgency of HIV/AIDS awareness. That being said, here are five things that I think weary responsible investment organizers should keep in mind when/if their work ever starts to feel unimportant, unnecessary or increasingly difficult.

1. People feel compelled to fight HIV/AIDS because they don’t want it to happen to them.

Take a moment to reflect on all the change you’ve given to causes like breast cancer, prostate cancer, lung cancer/lymphoma, diabetes, Parkinsons’ or institutions like St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, American Red Cross, UNICEF. Why did you give it? It was either a) because you are a caring and generous person or b) because you want to fund research to find a cure, so that if the tables are turned you’ll be okay. Or maybe it was both. Regardless, this is a key point for responsible investment. People should care because a) they are naturally caring and generous or b) they will eventually have to care if it happens to them. Though comparing a life-threatening disease and bank account-altering ploys like predatory lending is like comparing apples and oranges, I’m pretty sure no one wants either of those things to happen to them.

2. HIV/AIDS is a matter of life and death...

...and economic disparity in our country is similarly life-threatening. HIV/AIDS is a big deal because it can kill you, but not having any money can kill you, too. Once a person gets into a cycle of debt, loses access to education, and is pushed into the lower class they lose a lot of life-saving resources. The most common being health care. The 44 million Americans without health care are (surprise, surprise) in the lower half of America’s social classes. However, unlike HIV/AIDS - for which there is no cure - there is a cure for the life or death verdict of living at an economic disadvantage. Responsible investment, more specifically community investment, increases access to resources like free clinics and can award small business loans for things like employment benefits. Now, some may consider this a bit of a stretch, but directly and indirectly responsible investment saves lives.

3. It is not controversial to stand up and support HIV/AIDS.

(To my knowledge) In the past five years, no 87-year-old women have been maced in the face for wearing an AIDS ribbon or being present at a rally for HIV. Now that the stigma of the origins of the disease have started to lose importance, people can support HIV/AIDS awareness with pride and in safety. Sadly, this is not yet the case for responsible investment. But as organizers, we have the responsibility of showing people that it is not controversial to stand up for economic equality and social justice. It’s a big job, but anything worth fighting for is never that easy.

4. HIV/AIDS is “everyone’s disease”.

In the beginning, no one cared about HIV/AIDS because it only affected black people or gay people or people who messed around with monkeys. Basically, people blamed HIV/AIDS on any community they didn’t belong to and considered it the affected community’s responsibility to solve it. Sound familiar? I mean, it’s just like how being poor is poor people’s fault, right? They should just get up and get jobs and then go deposit their minimal wages at reputable check cashing establishments and pawn brokers. The fact that there are families in this country who have been living in the same low economic class for generations is not any responsibility of ours, right? It’s just like how the financial crisis only affected.....oh, wait - that affected all of us. We need to realize that recessions and depressions, like HIV/AIDS, don’t discriminate based on sexuality, race, or social class. Our national and financial health is everyone's issue and everyone’s responsibility to improve. Fun fact: responsible investment is a good place to start.

5. HIV/AIDS is easily understood.

People understand HIV/AIDS. They get that the white blood cells disappear, your body deteriorates and then you die from something as simple as a common cold (unless your name is Magic Johnson, then it’s a little different). I learned it in my 6th grade health class. But when you say responsible investment, eyes glaze over and people start fake coughing. What is the issue? Maybe we’re going too in-depth. Maybe we’re suffering from “Scientist’s Syndrome” and letting our passion flow so freely that we offer paragraph explanations to yes or no questions. Of course, HIV/AIDS is a lot more complex than the three steps-to-death I learned in health class, but that was all I needed to know for basic understanding. As movement facilitators, we should try to simplify our platform to basic understanding so people can talk about responsible investment over dinner, in the waiting room at the doctor’s office or where ever else they see fit.

Last month, it was not uncommon to see people doing double takes at me. They’ll look at me once, then again and ask, “aren’t you that activist girl from the paper?”. Ever since my profile ended up on the front page of the newspaper people seem to be paying more attention. But is it getting other people’s attention or what you do with it that counts?

For example, Occupy Wall Street is a cultural epicenter right now. The “occupiers” have been in Zuccotti Park for months and people are standing by to see what happens next. They’re in the middle of the societal eye, but they’re really not doing exciting stuff to stay there. For me, I think it’s good to strike when it’s hot, to get it while the getting is good. Now that I have all these people looking at me and listening to what I have to say, I should say something important and profound, right?

Wrong. I don’t know how I feel about people looking at or listening to me. It kind of makes me want to stand completely still and go totally mute. Unfortunately for my small ego, College Bank Transfer Day was just around the corner I would have liked to hide in. Uneasy about going the road alone, I called on the person in the article directly below mine. He was interested in running an awareness campaign to inform students on the injustices happening in the world around us. I figured our plans could complement each other; he could raise awareness and I would organize the action. But he had actions of his own: a protest! a sit-in! a march!

I wasn’t convinced that College Bank Transfer Day needed all that frenzy. Moving your money from a big bank to a local credit union is an action in and of itself. What purpose does the protest, sit-in, or march serve? I think all of these tactics are great ways to raise awareness, garner attention, and harness power and influence but is this really the way to solve problems? The Million Man March didn’t end erase the “social and economic ills plaguing the Black community”, it just forced people to take notice of the ills, themselves. The feminist protest of the 1969 Miss America pageant didn’t obliterate the objectification of women, it just made society more conscious of gender preference.

The Wall Street occupation hasn’t undone the financial crisis or demanded banks to treat us like people instead of profits, it has just prompted people to think about the issues. Occupy Wall Street won’t last forever, and my five minutes of fame won’t either. As much as I would like to retreat to my own social bubble and contemplate what’s wrong with the world over a free-trade organic soy chai latte, it doesn’t create change. Awareness and action are each only half the battle, and I can’t speak for #occupy but I want the movement to live on even after my “celebrity” has been laid to rest.

My journey began with a spark of interest and an idea from REC. What if colleges across the country used their $350 Billion dollars of investing power to change the name of the financial game-investing only in businesses with a commitment to social and environmental justice? Thinking about all of that power for good got me started on a journey that has changed me, and that I hope will help to change the world.

My movement at Fairfield University is beginning to snowball, and each month my definition of success grows. I began the year from scratch, having conversations with anyone interested-trying to convince them to join me in this work. Success, then, was a nod of the head and a simple “hmm, sounds cool.” A few weeks later it felt like a success to run a meeting with 4 other students, simply talking about the nature of responsible investment and teaching members key terms. By mid October, we had a group of 10 students with an understanding of the territory and with weekly meetings the movement seemed to be snowballing and gaining strength. The definition of success has slowly grown and I’m excited to see how long the snowball will continue to accelerate.

In early November we crafted a community investment proposal and presented it to one of our administrators, and I’m happy to say she was very receptive. We have been given the opportunity to discuss this in more detail with the Board of Trustees during their meeting in March, and we are using the months in the meantime to grow our movement.

We are working to educate our campus community, while strengthening our base. We created the Proactive Investment Club, or PIC, and our group of students suddenly felt a great deal more official. We created a facebook page, and a PIC email address, while further educating ourselves by reading REC materials between meetings.

We then set out organizing an event on campus to increase awareness. We decided that we wanted to keep our message positive; it made more sense in a conservative culture to get mobilize students around developing our communities with local banking, rather than tearing down mega banks.

In this spirit, we got together a group of 13 students to simultaneously open savings accounts at a local credit union. We used this occasion to generate some media attention with local news mediums, and we took plenty of pictures at the event to preserve the power we created. We intend to widely publicize this symbolic action to show our university administration that we strongly support community investment, and we want to work together to make it happen.

I am thrilled to be working on a growing movement, and excited by the possibilities ahead. Our prominence and our list of allies continue to grow-now including members from several student groups and key faculty. The future is looking brighter each day and I’m seeing what it looks like to combine goals and grit. Much, much more to come from PIC and the Fairfield University front-so stay tuned as our movement grows.

This holiday season, administrations need to know that it’s not just Santa deciding if they’ll be on the Naughty or Nice list. Students at colleges and universities across the nation have been working hard all semester to rally support around community investment and engage in dialogue with administration around the issue. We need to let our administrations know that we, along with our supporters, are holding Santa’s red pen this year. We’ve showed them the benefits of community investment and outlined the path for community investment—the path to the Nice list. We’ve come too far to let the administration take a holiday vacation from this pressing issue. At the University of Pittsburgh, we have gift-wrapped and sugar coated a reminder of our demand for the administration. I invite you all to do the same!

STEP 1: CREATE A HOLIDAY CARD

Have you recently submitted an investment proposal to your administration? Would you like to? Now is the perfect time to follow up or get your foot in the door. (See REC’s resource page to view sample proposals)

-Create a large card stating or restating your ask

-Emphasize the importance of immediate action

Let them know that you, student and community supporters are eagerly awaiting their response.

-Give them a deadline to get back to you

Mention that community investment should be your schools New Year’s Resolution! Ask them to present you with a decision a week after getting back to school. Let them know it’s your resolution to see this through and you’re eager see the direction your campaign will be taking next semester.

STEP 2: DEAR SANTA… DEAR BOARD/ FINANCIAL OFFICER/ CHANCELLOR

Who is your large card going to be addressed to? Will you be presenting your large card to the person(s) who have the greatest accountability to you or who have the most leverage or who seem to hold the most power?

Present your card to the person(s) who you think are most important.

To reach out to other important people, consider:

-Making cards for each group of desired

-Personalizing candy canes to all people and attach them to the big card

This way, the receiver will feel pressured to engage these people in your ask.

STEP 3: SINCERELY YOURS

Get this card signed by as many people as possible to show the administration that this is an issue that encompasses a wide range of people and there is widespread support and demand to see this proposal through.

Engage student organizations, Greek life, athletes, faculty, academic departments, community organizations, local financial institutions and other important people in your area as possible.

*Is there one person whose signature would be like gold?

In Pittsburgh, we’re aiming for the Mayor to sign our card.

STEP 4: DELIVERY!

Figure out the best time and place to deliver your card.

Will you take it to a:

-Board meeting

-Chancellor’s office

-Financial Officer’s office

-Task Force meeting

STEP 5: NO PEEKING? NO WAY! GET MEDIA ATTENTION!

-Notify your school and local papers days in advance

-Get as many people to deliver the card as possible

-Take pictures and video

-Write an Op-Ed and get it published locally and send it to REC

STEP 6: NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTION

Now, you can’t take a break over the holidays either! Make sure you have an action planned in response to the verdict you will be given after break. Make sure the administration knows you are eagerly awaiting their response so that you can move forward, as you just can’t wait to improve your campus and surrounding community!

And that is how to put some holiday pressure on the administration. CHEERS!